The Definitive Unused Fighters List in Smash – Source Translations

This page has a compilation of translated sources for the information used in the Definitive Unused Fighters List. So, if new (Japanese) information is used on that page, this one will be updated accordingly, with the translation of that information. Please give Source Gaming and Brando credit for these translations. Do not repost the entire translation. These translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai.

Note: The questions are paraphrased by us, and are not translations. They are just there to give you an idea of what was asked.

Super Smash Brothers 64:

Super Smash Brothers Melee:

(Sakurai’s response to someone asking about including a character from Famicom Tantei Club) [Source]

I think it’s probably best to wish for a sequel to Famicom Tantei Club, but don’t get your hopes up for a character appearing in Smash Bros.

I think that if a character from Famicom Tantei Club were to use Special Attacks and trade blows with Mario, true fans of the series would actually be disappointed, since that doesn’t embody the character.

And I’m deciding everything based on my own personal preference, so please forgive me.

(Sakurai’s response to a reader who writes, “I’m tired of Smash games made by Japanese companies! Next time, have Rare do it!”) [Source]

Uhh, I don’t understand…Rare can’t make Smash games.

Incidentally, including a character from Rare in Smash would be difficult for various reasons.

I know there are some people who think that Banjo & Kazooie are an obvious inclusion, but that’s unlikely for a variety of legal and financial reasons.

But the models would have been complicated, which would have taken a lot of development time, so they were low priority, and in the end the idea was scrapped.

(Reader says that he feels people would rather have characters like Wario, Robin from Golden Sun, or Saki from Sin and Punishment included in the game instead of characters like Doctor Mario or Pichu). [Source]

I’ve talked about this multiple times, but…

Clone characters are for the fans, through and through [literally, “clones are free/service”].

Even if I were to cut them, we still wouldn’t have the time or resources to add a brand new character.

Wario could only have been included if we had given him the exact same figure and moveset as Mario.

(Reader would like to know why Wario wasn’t included in the game) [Source]

If we could have added one or two more characters, then maybe he would have made it. He was certainly high up on the list of characters we considered but ultimately he didn’t make it.

But, I want to stress that even if we had cut the clone characters, he still wouldn’t have gotten in.

Even if we had cut the characters that were in the previous game (Jigglypuff, Luigi), he still wouldn’t have gotten in.

The amount of work it takes to cut a fully-developed character doesn’t equal the amount of work it takes to create a new one from scratch, so it still would have been impossible.

I would have needed to get rid of the Fire Emblem duo (Marth and Roy) or Mewtwo in order for Wario to get in. [Source]

I was also concerned that there were too many characters from the Mario series, so with that in mind, Wario had too many factors working against him.

(Reader: “Please include Slippy as a new character in Melee 2”) [Source]

Peppy’s voice actor said to me, “Gee, I wonder if I’ll make it in?”

Including the whole team would certainly please the fans, wouldn’t it?

Super Smash Brawl:

Sakurai: Sonic was decided afterwards, but from the start we gave ourselves some leeway when first devising the roster, then trimmed it down from there.

Sakurai: As a matter of fact, we planned to put in Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong as a pair. The duo would use the tag team system [from DKC] to switch between the two instantly. But, there were various difficulties, and they were soon cut.

I chose Diddy Kong because of his overwhelming popularity. Given the amount of supporters he has, it’s almost shocking he hadn’t joined the fray until now. We came up with some really interesting movements for him.

This exhausted our motion designers.

We made him scamper around just like a proper monkey does. He also pulls out banana peels and uses them to trip opponents. He’s quite impish — isn’t it great?

His Final Smash, Barrel Jet Panic, creates this frenzied feeling that you can’t effectively control it. I wanted to bring back the feeling of operating the barrel jet from Donkey Kong 64.

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7 comments

This really felt like an ask Santa interview, especially during the section on Melee. If it was hard to include Banjo & Kazooie back then, it would have been harder today. He could only do so much, but he cannot do everything.

Cool! Thanks for making this post, however, it has been said in the past that James Bond, B&Kazooie and Ayumi were considered for Melee, and this interview makes it sound like Sakurai didn’t consider it and instead just thought it would be impossible, so that was a little confusing for me.

“you won’t see much of Sukapon from now on. Please give it up.” lol, that’s harsh… (at least on the translation)

That’s actually something I’ve been meaning to bring up…somewhere– the word “considered” has different connotations for different people. For example, in the recent interview where Sakurai mentioned that he considered Takamaru for Melee, he says “for a moment.” As in, a very very small period of time, which is different from, say, “we strongly considered him as a playable character,” which might be how some people interpret that. So I need to clear that up.

The Sukapon section is interesting. I wonder what ‘adult matters’ he has to face with Nintendo IPs. The idea to have characters ride around on it is stupid though, so I’m kinda glad it didn’t make it at all in the end.